A "hero" for his parents, friends, colleagues, and many Americans taking to the streets. A "domestic terrorist" for the US government. A war of narratives surrounds the killing of Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old Italian-American nurse who died Saturday in Minneapolis, shot at point-blank range by one or perhaps more Border Patrol agents during a raid by ICE, the anti-immigration agency.
A clash that increases divisions and tensions in a climate that for some already feels like a civil war, while Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is mobilizing the National Guard to try to maintain calm in the city. The Trump administration is in serious trouble after several videos analyzed by the American media and two witnesses appear to contradict the official version from the Department of Homeland Security, according to which Pretti "approached Border Patrol agents with a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol" and "violently resisted" when they tried to disarm him .
The reconstruction
Various footage of the shooting, however, initially shows the man with a phone in his hand (and not a gun) filming federal agents in the middle of a snowy street, then focuses on one of them pushing a woman away and knocking another down. Pretti interposes himself between the agent and the women, attempts to defend one of them, then raises his left arm to protect himself as the agent sprays him with pepper spray . He is then subdued and pinned to the ground by a group of at least five federal officers, while someone shouts what appears to be a warning about the presence of a weapon. A video then appears to show one of the officers taking a gun from Pretti's waistband and walking away from the group with it. Moments later, a colleague with a gun pointed at Pretti's back fires four shots in rapid succession. More shots are heard in rapid succession as another agent appears to hit Pretti. A stampede ensues, including among the federal officers; no one offers assistance.
The witnesses
There are also two eyewitnesses: in a sworn statement, they stated that the man was not brandishing a weapon. One is a woman who filmed the clearest video of the shooting; the other is a 29-year-old doctor who lives nearby. "The officers," he testified, "threw the man to the ground. I didn't see him touch any of them; he wasn't even facing them. He didn't appear to be trying to resist; he was just trying to help a woman up. I didn't see him with a gun. They threw him to the ground. Four or five officers were holding him down and started shooting him." The second witness stated that he saw the tragedy from the window of his apartment near the scene. Before the shooting, he said he saw Pretti yell at the officers, but "I didn't see him attack them or brandish any kind of weapon." When he attempted to provide first aid, he was initially prevented, the doctor continued, reporting that the victim had at least three gunshot wounds to the back, as well as one to the upper left chest and another possible wound to the neck.
Trump: "We're evaluating it."
"We're reviewing and evaluating everything and we'll make a decision on that." US President Donald Trump hasn't commented on the possibility of withdrawing ICE but says the administration is looking into the matter. In a brief telephone interview with the Wall Street Journal, Trump didn't respond directly when asked twice whether the officer who shot Alex Pretti had acted correctly. He also criticized Pretti for carrying a weapon—"a 9mm semi-automatic pistol"—to the protests. "I don't like shooting. I don't like it," he added. "But I don't like it when someone goes to a protest and has a very powerful gun, fully loaded, with two magazines full of bullets. That's also not a good sign."
(Unioneonline)